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| Belgrade Airport welcomes 2014's millionth passenger |
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has today handled its millionth passenger for the year, over a month ahead of 2013, as it continues to record unprecedented growth. In a statement, the airport said, “These results have confirmed previous estimates that, with the beginning of the summer season, Belgrade Airport will continue to record the biggest growth in passenger numbers and traffic volume out of any other capital city airport in Europe”. It adds that growth is being primarily driven by Air Serbia. The airport notes that while its workload has been significantly increased over the past few months, all departments continue to carry out their duties successfully.
Within the first nineteen days of April, the airport handled 214.704 passengers. Estimates suggest it will welcome 350.000 passengers through its doors by the end of the month, an increase of almost 40% compared to April 2013. The airport expects to see significant traffic over the Easter weekend. Similarly, its main customer, Air Serbia, has witnessed record passenger numbers so far this month. According to the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate, Belgrade Airport will continue to see strong growth over the summer months as a record 32 foreign carriers will operate flights to and from the Serbian capital, eight of which are charter airlines.
So far in 2014 many airlines have announced the launch of new routes to Belgrade including easyJet, Wizz Air and Air Serbia. In the coming months Etihad Regional, Vueling, TAP Portugal and Air Cairo will launch scheduled services to the city, while Croatia Airlines will resume its seasonal flights to Belgrade. In addition, several carriers have been issued permits to operate charter flights such as Aegean Airlines, Freebird, Nesma Airlines and Onur Air. On the other hand, Belgrade Airport saw Adria Airways discontinue services to the city earlier this year while Wizz Air has announced plans to shelve two routes and cut frequencies on several flights from its Belgrade hub.

Comments
BEG 12 mil
ZAG 8 mil
SPU 6 mil
PRN 6 mil
DBV 5 mil
LJU 5 mil
SSJ 4 mil
SKP 4 mil
PUY 3 mil
INI 2.5 mil
KVO 2 mil
TIV 1.8 mil
BNX 1.5 mil
RJK 1.5 mil
MBX 1.5 mil
OHD 1.5 mil
TZL 1 mil
OSI 1 mil
UZC 1 mil
OMO 650.000
POW 350.000
BWK 300.000
Zamerka, da se sporo dogradjuje aerodrom ANT, da dinamika rada, brzina odobravanja, projektovanja i same gradnje, nebih mogao dati komplimenteali. Naprotiv po ovim pitanjima je nekopetenost, neodlucnost onih koji odlucuju. Sve dok Aerodrom bude u drzavnim rukama, organizacija sa navikama ce biti posledica improvizacije I neodgovornosti prema vremenu i efikasnom biznisu visoko organizovanom i visoko sposobnom izazovima, transformacijama... Ovo jje zelja da svima ne bude samo bolje, nego sasvim dobro. Ozbiljnost, organizacija i predanost garantuju postojanost sa uspehom u okolnostima. Za 9 dna nas dvoje ce proci kroz vase terminale, po mojoj evidenciji u 120-ti put u pravcu Sidneja. Svima na aerodromu ANT BEOGRAD, uridnistvu ovog blog sa ucesnicima, radosno VASKRSENJE GOSPODNJE, mirne letove u svakom dobru. Svima, svakom , svuda.
Iskreno, Rodney Marinkovic, AME. Kraljeo / Sydney.
I saw some drawings on this and another forum but they were old.
And what's happening with that deal for Etihad to take over the airport? It looks like its going ahead (slowly pushing Wizz out by raising prices), just no one is really talking about it.
Anyway, anyone has any info on that?
Thanks
I'm so ashamed when they use Google Translate to create marketing content... Is it so difficult to find someone who actually speaks very good English?
By the way, correct English would be "the gate to Serbia".
...and Belgrade more than
Athens
Nice
Prague
Warsaw
Stuttgart
Cologne
Venice
Brussels...
You are so funney!
Air Canada passengers watch as carry-on luggage goes flying at Pearson
http://www.citynews.ca/2014/04/18/air-canada-passengers-watch-as-carry-on-luggage-goes-flying-at-pearson/
I booked a ticket from Belgrade to Tel Aviv and back and I am wondering is it possible to find info on what is the load on that flights. I am going there on August 8 and coming back on 11. Is there a way to look into it, or can somebody just tell me the load, thanks!
Ex XA-VOR, Volaris A319 would be the next AirSrbia bird
Yesterday's flight BEG-BNX 80% LF! :-)
OT:
Does anyone know, have any info how are first flights from STN to TGD and OSI doing? What is LF?
Thanks
United Airlines neleti zbog LH.
Even Larnaca had spectacular loads, 110 passengers out of Belgrade and 112 into Belgrade!
After 4 months loads are starting to improve slowly, slowly..
There were two JU flights to LHR today. Both were with A319s.
JU's A319s can seat 128 so there were 256 seats available in each direction.
If the management wants to keep their jobs, they should have started planning to build T3 as soon as the Air Serbia deal was finalized, and they should have already started to build it by now. The is no time to wait. This summer will be crazy once the airport sees more than 500.000 passengers per month. I cannot even think what will happen in summer 2015 or summer 2016 if the airport continues to grow...
Air Serbia and Dane Kondic has made it clear that they plan to introduce long haul eventually. There is no chance that they can do that before something major happens at BEG, such as T3, baggage system overhaul, etc.
I guess our only hope is if Etihad gets the airport.
However, there are couple of things that could and should be done - and fast:
1) Building dedicated bus gates - either at C7 or at former domestic arrivals - where pax could be separated waiting for the bus. I'd say 4 or 6 of those.
2) The upper floor for international arrivals is an absolute priority. If plan doesn't already call for it, they should include passport control up there, because existing facilities are already creating a bottleneck. That space on the ground floor can also be used for the bus gates.
3) Completely revamp international arrivals, which is seriously sub par as it is compared to the rest of the airport. This is not an easy fix, and would probably include some serious construction efforts.
Јутарњи долазак из Москве: 112
Јутарње Скопље: 24
Париз у доласку, као и вечерњи Париз су имали око 130 путника.
Вечерњи Цирих око 110.
Атина 83.
Осталих се стварно не сећам али попуњеност је генерално била добра данас иако је празник. :)
Христос воскресе!
In addition, if they really want to be perverse :) they could install a live feed camera filming those who are exiting from customs, and install few plasmas with feed (one outside, at the smoking area, one in "cafe"), so the persons waiting could distribute even more evenly throughout the area. Also, solved is the issue of a taxi stand, which is virtually invisible now. Added with new lights (professional, not majstor Žika putting neons where it is easy to fit), arrivals could be adequate, especially since JU is focusing on transfer pax.
In addition, this is not a big deal, it is quite cheap and can be done under full traffic, during night or low peak hours in two weeks or less - and will significantly improve flow and feel of the airport.
Also, A corridor can be updated without building the new terminal, as they did with gates A1-A4. If extra gates are needed, they can build A11 and on, or C7 and go from there.
Of course, at some point in time, more check in space will be necessary - that can be solved by expanding the building towards the parking, that shouldn't be too difficult; and adding a proper parking structure further away.
All of this will keep BEG functioning perfectly until 10-12 million mark or so, when, of course, new terminal will be in order - but I'd say that should be done next to a new runway, and away from the existing building.
The point is, all these updates are quite cheap, simple and fast. On the other hand, building a new terminal would take years, and that's if the funds are available now, which they are not. BEG will not be able to handle increased traffic as it is. Now, of course it all depends on how JU perform in coming years, but if they maintain some kind of growth, it will just attract more foreign carriers and numbers will go up fast.
Plans for upper floor also existed back in 2011, see the picture of BEG airport with additional floor: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=82893892&postcount=3
Problem is, they didn't realize so far. Same for plans you mention for adding more A gates (A11 etc), more check in space, adding proper parking structure and other improvements you mentioned. If they are quite cheap, simple and fast as you mention - how come they didn't happen (or at least start) by now? Even if they are all completed by now, terminal would still have areas that need to be fixed. For example, sad toilets at old A gates (A6-A10) that are accessible using narrow stairs one level below concourse, or "hidden" elevator behind bar area at arrivals hall - the only way to get from arrivals to departure levels if you have luggage cart etc. There are many more examples I can come up with, and they should not exist for 4M airport, let alone 10-12M/year.
Sometimes it's just better to build brand new terminal than to keep fixing existing one with the speed tape, and examples are everywhere. Once Otopeni opened new area in 2011, their passenger numbers jumped from 5M to 7M in one year! There is no long term alternative to new terminal at BEG. Who will invest and under what conditions, now that's a completely separate story.
Central control was temporarily "eliminated", until the second floor is added, so to avoid two security checks for departing passengers - when the second floor is added, and arriving flow separated from the departing one it will be eliminated.
In my, humble, opinion, airport has to:
1. Build a lowcost dedicated terminal (a simple hangar with bus gates would work fine - and give it to students of architecture to design it) with very cheap prices. Within the next year.
2. Refurbish T2 (arrivals, gates, second floor, etc.), and later T1 (while preserving the architectural and cultural heritage of T1). In the meanwhile, fix all those "little" problems, parking, hotel, Museum, grass and flowers - with little dedication one can really make the airport look nice.
3. During the summer start working on T3, as planed by the airport's master-plan, and on second runway. Intl. design competition, preparing land, securing the funds (use the Arab loans and money), and make it a dedicated JU terminal. It should be done in a few years time.
In 5 years you have a perfect airport, maybe bigger than the needs are, but certainly an airport that can be highly sufficient for the next 15/20 years.
Now, I can't say as to why those "simple and cheap" things weren't completed. As for the reconstruction, I'd say things are going according to plan, as we are now entering stage three - but in my opinion stage four should happen simultaneously.
Sure, there are some issues that haven't been considered (as the toilets), and I'm sure there are many more once you look at the ground floor (aka baggage handling area). But still, these costs are next to nothing compared with the cost of building a new terminal from scratch.
We already know, just look at 60-70% monthly growth YoY. No one expects sustained 60% for the next 2 years, but even 10-20% growth plus growth with other carriers at BEG would mean it would be way too late to act after 1-2 years.
"I don't think money is there just yet"
Money will never be there unless you have amazing business plan and solid backers. What this really means is government has to make a deal with foreign investor for a long term (20-30y) operation of the airport. It is government's responsibility to invest in infrastructure, not to milk revenue from current BEG airport. Benefits will come in added jobs, local construction companies doing a lot of work, additional revenue (tourism etc) and having a brand new terminal paid by others. Look at what ZAG is doing, it will pay big time in the future.
What happened to proposals from Etihad and Greek investor at BEG?
Something important has to be done, and it has to be done soon.
First, all works envisioned by the Master plan, that refer to widening or refurbishment of the existing terminals should begin in no time.
I`d suggest implementing as many bus oriented gates as possible, and also doubling of the luggage-claim area by expanding the subterranean level underneath the T1. Thus, we get the opportunity to create a vast new check-in area above.
While that is being done, with T1 closed, additional capacity would have to be offered. There are two solutions:
1) As suggested by someone above, to build a simple and cheap, low ceiling and somewhat claustrophobic low cost terminal on ANT.
2) Move low cost flights to Batajnica airport, which I strongly advocated on another forum.
Also, the planning stage for T3 has to commence now, too. It has, nonetheless, to bee said that THERE CAN BE NO T3 WITHOUT A SECOND RUNWAY, at least under the existing Master plan, as the usage of the old runway alone would prove to be uneconomical for airlines operating from T3.
As for the financing, we should not be afraid of bank loans in this business, and I guess that Tesla airport is a perfect spot for public-private partnership .